i'm thinking about dovetailing my trailer this winter to give me a project to do. my trailer is kind of short anyways. cant remember exactly what it is, 13' seems to stick out in my mind. well i was thinking of adding on about 3' to it, this would be the dovetail portion. does the dovetail really provide any benifit? i just think it'd be nice to have a little more lenght and have smaller, lighter ramps.

i'd probably cut my current ramps in half. use about half for the new ramp, a small portion for a vertical support when ramps are down, and then add spring assist. not sure yet if i'm going to shift the axles. it rides like a dream right now so i really dont want to mess with that. also fix up my fenders and finish it off with some fresh paint in the spring.

here's a bad pic of my current setup:

__________________
This is my Jeep. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My Jeep is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I master my life. My Jeep, without me, is useless. Without my Jeep, I am useless.

Your going to loose ground clearence on the trailer--obvious but something to think about-depending on where you go to wheel. And 3 ft of trailer is going to move your cog towards the back-taking off tonque weight---just things to ponder

not without the ramps. i probably could if i really wanted to but i'm sure the truck wouldnt like it

i downloaded some drawings off of the Big Tex site and I'm going to see how that matches up to mine and go from there.

__________________
This is my Jeep. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My Jeep is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I master my life. My Jeep, without me, is useless. Without my Jeep, I am useless.

A short dovetail added on would give you the benefit of not needing your ramps. Your COG will not change much as long as you continue to strap your rig down where you currently strap it.

HOWEVER, if you start hauling longer, heavier vehicles on it because you now have a longer trailer, you will have a balance problem because your axles are too far forward.

BTW, that trailer looks longer than 13 ft.

yeah thats one of my fears with having a longer trailer. if i do haul longer vehicles it wont be a regular thing so i'm not to worried. plus if it ends up being a problem i can always move the axles later on. but for now i'll just be towing my jeep 99.9% of the time. i more or less want more length to get the ramps away from the jeep. dovetail does that and also i can get away with shorter (lighter) ramps.

it was just a guess, i dont have the trailer near me to measure. i just know its shorter than most trailers.

__________________
This is my Jeep. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My Jeep is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I master my life. My Jeep, without me, is useless. Without my Jeep, I am useless.